100 ANNUAL KECOBD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Morin proceeds then to show that there is still a third sub- 

 stance occurring in most of the elements of the animal organ- 

 ism, sometimes as a constituent element, and at others as a 

 morbid product, such as in abnormal urines. He has found 

 this in the liquid of the cotyledons of the fetus of the cow at 

 different periods of development, in the hen's egg in different 

 stages of incubation, in the blood, in the liquids of the digest- 

 ive tube, etc., and, in fact, so frequently that it becomes nec- 

 essary to recognize it as an element of the organism. This 

 he formerly called gelatiniform matter, since it resembles gel- 

 atine, but is distinct from it by well-marked characteristics. 

 The same substance was subsequently termed albuminose by 

 Mialhe. Morin now proposes the name galactine as the bet- 

 ter term, and states that when fresh, or just precipitated, it 

 appears in the form of a gelatinous or viscous mass, becom- 

 ing solid by desiccation, but not brittle, and remaining capa- 

 ble of being kneaded between the fingers. Its characteristic 

 peculiarities lie in being soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol, 

 either hot or cold, in being transformed into gelatine by the 

 prolonged action of water or heat, and of being precipitated 

 like gelatine by a solution of tannin; but with this difference, 

 that the precipitate formed by the gelatine is insoluble in 

 warm water, while that produced by galactine is dissolved at 

 a temperature of 140 Fahr., and reforms in cooling. As al- 

 ready stated, this substance has been found in the blood, in 

 the gastric juice, in the liquor of the cotyledons of the fetus, 

 and in the egg, where it is deposited as a germinating or an 

 initial force, destined to start the final development. It also 

 occurs sometimes in abundance in liquids produced by dis- 

 ease, in which case it is rejected like albumen, as if the organs 

 had lost the faculty of assimilating it. It also occurs in the 

 juice of certain plants employed as food for cattle, and it is 

 not at all impossible that its occurrence in the animal econ- 

 omy may be the result of its extraction from plants, or, at 

 least, not always produced by the process of digestion. In 

 nutritive qualities galactine probably ranks with albumen, fib- 

 rine, and caseine. Mem, /Soc. Phys. de Geneve, xxxi, 1871, 237. 



CHANGE OF VOLUME IN SOLUTIONS. 



Mr. Bolson has presented to the Academy of Sciences of 

 Paris the results of a series of experiments upon the change 



